Spur-legged Stick Insect - Didymuria violescens

This page contains pictures and information about the Spur-legged Stick Insects that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Adult male, body length 90mm

It is the male Spur-legged Stick Insect in those photos. Its inflated hind femora bearing two black large spines. If it opens its wings, they are violet in colour. It is fully winged but not seem it can fly. They are also known as Violet-winged stick insects.



We only found this Stick Insect once. It was in Karawatha Forest during a very hot day in mid March. It was resting on a large Gum tree trunk, about 0.5 meter above ground level. We did not see the female yet.



We brought the insect home but it died on the next day. We found that in general we can keep a female Stick Insect for very long time but not the male. We had kept the female Titan and Children's for about a year. For male, they usually died within a few days.



Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 402.
Australia 2005.
2. Didymuria violescens (Leach, 1814) - A Guide to the Stick Insects of Australia, by Peter Miller 20-Sep-2006